-- that the conceptual problem begins with the definition of assault weapons. mr. obama certainly didn't define it. the ban that was imposed in 1994 -- guest: that's just not accurate. first of all, the features of an assault weapon are not cosmetic. they're functional. i mean, for example, under the bill that i think will be introduced in congress, if you have, for example, a semi-automatic rifle that can take a detachble magazine, and that can be a high-capacity 30, 50-round magazine, and has a pistol grip, that is an assault rifle. that's not cosmetic. the significance of the pistol grip is that it's used to fire from the hip. literally shooting from the hip. where you are not eyeing your target. that is meant to spray fire, to hit a lot of people very quickly. and while these are semi-automatic weapons, not automatic weapons, they can fire actually almost as quickly. you can empty a 30-round magazine in about five seconds using a semi-automatic assault rifle. and additionally, the federal bill that lapsed in 2004 did prevent crime and prevented the use of assault weapons in crime. there was a
